So who will succeed deceased Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov?

Question

Turkmenistan features a Turkmenbashi Palace, Turkmenbashi theme park, Port Turkmenbashi, even Turkmenbashi vodka. It was a dictatorship, to be sure, but as things go a relatively benign -- if surreal -- one.

For now, Turkmenistan is being ruled by interim President Gurbanguly Berdimukhammedov, a man who is rumored to be Niyazov's illegitimate son.

Will anyone more legitimate or with at least a more easily pronounced name step forward to take the reigns?

Answer 1

I look for a name to be announced and then the cicil unrest will start as the people rise up and want to vote.

Answer 2

Berdimuhammedov has the presidential elections all but won. He's the only "approved" candidate with any stature. The chair of the election committee officially announced that he will work towards Berdimuhammedov's victory. There's obviously a lack of clarity on what the role of an election commission really is.

But there's a chance that the dictatorship will basically continue, but there's some signs of a slow, gradual loosening of control.

I would not call a dictatorship which routinely harassesses its citizens, imprisons people for political and ethnic reasons, restricts access to information, bulldozes the homes of ordinary people based on a dictator's whim, dumbs down its own people by destroying the educational system, and reduces overall life expectancy by gutting the healthcare system, closing hospitals and demanding loyalty to the state ideology above knowledge and skill in virtually any field including medicine to be a benign dictatorship.